Federal agents to probe Stephon Clark shooting after state declines to charge police

Federal agents to probe Stephon Clark shooting after state declines to charge police

Federal authorities announced Tuesday they will conduct a civil rights review of the police shooting of an unarmed black man in California’s capital last March, a killing that triggered a year of racial upheaval in Sacramento and has become the focus of legislation to curb the use of deadly force.

The announcement came hours after California’s top prosecutor declined to file charges against the two Sacramento police officers, Terrence Mercadal and Jared Robinet, who fired on Stephon Clark 20 times after mistaking his cellphone for a gun. Clark was struck at least seven times and died at the scene, later determined to be his grandmother’s backyard….